Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Huh? I do not understand. Are you the mother? Where is the man named on the child's birth certificate? Is either the man named or the putative father making an issue about this?

If not, I do not think I would make it an issue at this time.

You first need to get the paternity straightened out. Seek child support and have child support do a DNA test. Once the paternity is resolved, the birth certificate should be amended to reflect the name of the true father and the true father should be paying support for his child.

If the parents of the child cannot agree on legal and physical custody, then and only then should you bring a custody action against the real father. Some counties may have forms. check with your count domestic relations' office. They usually require that you and the father go to mediation and to try and arrive at an agreement. It will be cheaper if you and the father can agree without going to court. If you cannot, then the court will have to award custody based on the best interest of the child, which is everything and anything that bears on the child's moral, spiritual, intellctual, educational and physical development.

I do not know what you mean by "full" custody. There is legal and physical custody. Legal custody refers to things like school and medical records, how the child will be raised, whether she will go to public or private school and so forth. Physical custody is where the child lives on a daily basis and who feeds, clothes and takes care of her. Legal custody is almost always joint unless there are issues, like the father is in jail, totally absent from the child's life or something like that. Physical custody is divided between the parents, with the child living with the mother (usually) and the father getting visitation every other weekend and split holidays. Even where the father is abusive, visits may be supervised, but not totally denied absent very unusual circumstances.

If the father wants to take a more active role, let him. Be generous with allowing the child to see the father as much as is reasonable. The child is not a paycheck so stop thinking (if you are inclided to do so) that spending more time with the father equates with a loss in child support. The more people who love the child the better it will be for everybody, especially the child. However, you cannot make the father be a dad if he does not want to be. You cannot force him to spend time with the child or visit the child. I think that is so sad, but there is really nothing you can do except love the child twice as much.

Hope this helps.